The weather’s not the problem - your website is: what the BOM teaches us about bad change management

Australians are used to unpredictable weather. But unpredictable website design? That’s where we draw the line.

Recently, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) updated its website and app - presumably to make things “better”. Instead, the public reaction landed somewhere between mild confusion and full-blown rage-typing.

Titles included for your viewing pleasure:

• ‘Not happy BOM’: agency’s new website causes a storm

• ‘Absolute Sh*tshow’: Calls for ‘heads to roll’ as BOM staff admit to not liking new site

• Does the new BOM website suck? It’s an all-in Crikey brawl

It was like turning up to your favourite coffee shop only to find they’ve replaced all the normal cups with avant-garde soup bowls and want you to “embrace the new experience”. The intention might have been progress, ye what we received was disastrous.

What Went Wrong (Spoiler: It’s Not the Weather’s Fault)

This wasn’t a mystery of atmospheric science - it was a failure of change management.

When you change something people rely on daily, especially something as sacred as the weather forecast, you can’t just push a shiny new interface live and hope ‘they’ll figure it out’. Australians don’t “explore” weather apps. We tap in at 7:03 AM to see if we need a brolly, sunscreen, or to cancel our plans and go back to bed. But instead of clarity, users were greeted with a new layout, different icons, and no clear explanation of what changed or why. Cue confusion, frustration, and thousands of people yelling “WHO ASKED FOR THIS?!”. This shows us one thing:

People don’t resist change. They resist change they don’t understand, didn’t ask for, and weren’t prepared for.

The Two Big Misses

1. No Current State Assessment

This is change management 101 - before changing something, you need to understand how people are using it now.

• What information are they looking for? (and why?)

• How quickly do they need it? (last week if it impacts the washing schedule)

• Do they check BOM half-asleep before coffee? (Yes.)

• Do they want pretty gradients or a giant “RAIN IMMINENT” banner? (Also, yes.)

With a proper current state assessment, BOM would have known what users loved, what annoyed them, and what ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED.

2. No Communication Strategy

The only thing worse than changing something people rely on… is not telling them why you did it. Good comms would have:

• Shown the improvements ahead of time

• Explained benefits in plain English (not “enhanced navigational experience”, but: “You can now find warnings faster”)

• Helped users transition smoothly with tooltips, tutorials, or even, radical idea, a short video

Instead, millions of Australians woke up, opened their phone, and thought they’d accidentally clicked on a weather site from another, long gone decade.

Why This Matters Beyond Weather Apps

This isn’t just about BOM. It’s a lesson for any business, department, or organisation that wants to change something. Because if you skip change management, you won’t just confuse people - you’ll lose their trust, and, worst-case scenario you’ll have to roll back millions of dollars in work whilst trying to keep your workforce motivated, and your bosses away from any of the blame…

Good Change Management Stops Chaos Before It Starts

Here’s how it should be done:

Bad Change	Good Change
Surprise! We changed everything overnight	Here’s what’s changing, when, and why it benefits you
“Users will figure it out”	“Let’s walk you through what’s new”
Launch, panic, backtrack	Test, refine, hype, then launch successfully

The Forecast for Future Success

Organisations don’t need more features or fancier UI to succeed, they need better change management. Because the truth is Weather is unpredictable yet people aren’t. If you ask what they need, tell them what’s coming, and help them through the transition, they’ll adapt. Yet if you launch a surprise transformation with no explanation? Well… don’t be surprised when the public forms a Category 5 backlash.